At noon, within the dirty and chaotic stable, when Edward finished the last shot, the plot of the adventurers entering the town was essentially completed.
"Although the lighting isn't great, both of your performances were excellent. Let's call it a day here," Edward declared.
Accustomed to switching between acting mode and their usual state, Zat and Aya followed him out. Initially, they thought Edward might actually make them sleep in the stable. To be honest, even the knights' resting room at the knight's guild would be better than this somewhat miserable environment.
What they looked forward to the most was what kind of dinner the Lord would take them to. After all, the meals that Winry prepared for them in Edward Castle were unforgettable, and now they were in the town of Nosrick, a place they had never visited before.
As for this, Edward had a prepared smile. He then had Winry, who was waiting outside, hand them a box containing their meals and said, "This is the standard boxed meal for actors. Any new actors joining us in the future will also have this. Don't worry; Winry made this herself in the kitchen of a local residence she borrowed. The dishes made by those chefs aren't much better than this."
Although Winry initially considered this approach to save money, after implementing it, Edward found it quite good. After all, he couldn't take all the actors to restaurants every day. After the movie was completed, he could take all the actors out for a meal, have a party, and that would be more appropriate.
Therefore, Edward instructed Winry to make something similar to boxed meals, which was provided to everyone after shooting. Of course, this was basically exclusive to the main actors. After all, if every extra received a boxed meal, Winry would probably be worked to death.
To their surprise, Zat and Aya each received a boxed meal from Winry. Upon opening it, they found the food neatly packed together. Due to the sealing, the food was still warm.
"This is delicious."
"Yeah, even though it's just ordinary food, it somehow tastes better when packaged like this."
Their reflections made Edward, who was eating a boxed meal on the ground, smile. He also ate while seated on the ground and said, "You've read the script, so you should know that there will be new actors joining us next. Well..."
"Yeah, um, Director Edward... Where do you plan to find actors? I remember one is a mage who can only use burst magic once a day, and the other is a swordsman with terrible sword skills but a masochistic female knight– Honestly, I find this setting a bit strange..."
Listening to Zat's contemplation while eating, Edward just smiled and said, "I already have someone in mind for the first one, and we can start shooting as soon as she arrives. For the second one, I plan to post a request at the Adventurer's Guild. I'm not asking for much—just someone who looks the part and is obedient and willing to endure hardship. After all, in this world before us, there hasn't been anything like making movies, and having slightly subpar acting skills is not a problem."
"Anyway, Director, what are we going to shoot after finding the actors?"
Zat's question made Aya, who was also licking her box, look over. Although they had read the script, what they would film ultimately depended on Edward's decision.
Edward, on the other hand, calmly said, "Afterward? To be honest, the prop actors haven't been prepared yet. According to my plan, we'll wait until everyone is here before shooting."
"That's fine. But Director, how do we handle the giant frog in the script? I remember that there are no monsters like that in this world. "
Hearing Zat's crucial question, Edward nodded. He understood that even though this world had various strange creatures he had never heard of before his time travel, there wasn't a giant frog like the one in "KonoSuba."
So, after thinking for a while, Edward said slowly, "Although there are no giant frogs, there are slimes. I've seen some oversized slimes in the monster catalog at the Mage Tower. I just don't know where they're sold."
"Slimes? We hardly have any wild monsters in the South, so I've never seen a slime in my life."
Zat's words made Edward furrow his brow. Understanding that this issue needed to be solved, he said after a moment of thought, "I remember there are specialty monster merchants in most towns. Slimes, being low-level and easy to keep, seem to be quite popular. Ah, I've seen a few stores like this before."
"Ah, I've seen them too. They even sell Silver-gray wolf cubs! They are so cute!"
Winry's words confirmed Edward's proposal. Clearly, this world also had something called a pet store, but due to the peculiarities of this world, the pets sold were not ordinary. Instead, they were some relatively harmless monsters.
"Anyway, let's try our luck. Let's go to the pet...monster store and see if we can find a rare giant slime. Even if we don't, we can ask around."
So, following Edward's decision, the group headed to the town, excited. Thinking back, they had never really had a break since they came here to shoot. Now, they finally had the time to explore this town called Nosrick.
...
As one of the largest towns in the South, Nosrick had excellent transportation, a variety of shops, and bustling streets that almost made people dizzy. Winry and others were constantly exclaiming at the scenes they saw.
In contrast, Edward, who had experienced the capital and another world's prosperity, didn't have much to say. He calmly inquired with passersby and came to a corner store—a monster store.
According to the passerby, the owner of this monster store often traveled to various places, having rich experience and knowledge. As long as it was a real-world monster, he could provide some clues.
With some expectations, Edward opened the door of the monster store, and upon entering, what met their eyes was a scene resembling a zoo. There were all kinds of monsters freely moving around in the room. There wasn't even a fence, making people suspect whether they had entered the right place.
Seeing customers come in, the shop owner immediately welcomed them and said, "Welcome to the Monster Store. What can I help you with?"
The shop owner is a man in his twenties or thirties. Although he appears somewhat aged due to his gray hair, he still looks relatively young.
As Edward was about to say something, a pair of furry ears suddenly appeared behind the shop owner. Before anyone could express surprise, a girl with animal ears and a tail emerged from behind the shop owner.